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What the Catholic Church Has Done for Mexico, by Doctor 

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The Agrarian Law of Yucatan 

The Labor Law of Yucatan 



International Labor Forum 

Intervene in Mexico, Not to Make, but to End War, urges 

Mr. Hearst, with reply by Rolland 

The President's Mexican Policy, by F. K. Lane 

The Religious Question in Mexico 

A Reconstructive Policy in Mexico 

Manifest Destiny 



What of Mexico 

Speech of General Alvarado. 
Many Mexican Problems.... 



Charges Against the Diaz Administration, 

Carranza 

Stupendous Issues 



Minister of the Catholic Cult. 

Star of Hope for Mexico 

Land Question in Mexico.... 



Open Letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune, Chicago, 111. 

How We Robbed Mexico in 1848, by Robert H. Howe 

What the Mexican Conference Really Means 

The Economic Future of Mexico 



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carry into practice adapting them to the needs ^^ ^^f, ^^T^" 
neople in order to fulfill them completely and rapidly there 
fore our political code in general has the appearance of a eol- 
ation Vatstract formulate wherein scientific ^e^-^^^/J^ ' 

great speculative value have been ^^^^^f ^^^' ^^'.Jj^^i^dua 
little or no usefulness has been derived. In sooth, the mdiviaua 
Hghts whkh the Constitution of 1857 claims are the basis of socia 
institutions have been conculcated almost constantly by the 
different governments which since its promulgation have suc- 

c eded on! another in the Republic, -"Vt^^To^e'ct^uTh r^hts 
aoDeal trial (juicio de amparo) designed to protect such ngnts 
instead of he ping to a rapid and exact result, did nothmg but 
devfate fustice, fmpossibilitating the -tjon -"y^^^^ 
federal courts usually swamped by numberless files but also 
hat o the common courts, obstructed by the suspension orders 
issued\^thout rule or justification. But there is still more. 

The resource of appeal, instituted with a Ingh social aim sc,on 
became denaturalized until it was converted, ^^^^ ;^f ^/ P^^^f ^"^^ 
weapon, and afterwards into an appropriate "^^^.^^^J^^ .^^!^^^ "f. 
end of the sovereignty of the states, since even the most msigm 
ficant acts of the authorities in the states were subjected tele- 
vision by the Supreme Court; and as that high court, due o the, . 
manner -^n which its members were appointed, was absolutely 
under the influence of the chief of the Executive power it be- 
came evident that the declaration of the Rights of Man stated m 
S^Federal Constitution of 1857, had not had the practical im- 
portance which was expected. 

Therefore, the first basis on which the whole struct-ure of 
social institutions should rest, was inefficient to consolidate and 
adapt them to their object, which was the establishment of the 
. SLns between the individual and the State, in a simple and 
/•'^ical form, demarcating the respective boundaries w.^m 
which their respective activities should develop, without shackles 
S any kind ; fo? the activity of the jndiv dual outside of bounds 
becomes perturbing and anarchical, and that of the State, op 
pJessTve and despotic. But the principle to which re erence has 
: fust blen made, although expressly ^nd categorically formulated^ 
Ls had no real practicaWalue, notwithstanding hat m the fiej^d 
of constitutional rights it is an indisputable truth, ihe same 
?hiS exactly has occurred with all th eother fundamental prin- 
cipks set forth in the same Constitution of 1857 These principles 
have up to the present time, never been anything more than a 
deli'h ful hope,^he reahzation of which has always been a 
mo^dcery. In truth, the national sovereignty which is rooted m 
the people, does nit and has not been, except m very few in- 
stan \ a Reality in Mexico, because, if not always, usuahy m an 
S -mted ma^^ --^'' ^ has been exercised not by the 

umr tpted manner ^mmelled will of the imtiop 



REPORT 



made by the First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, Venus- 
tiano Carranza, before the first Meeting of the "Congreso 
Constituyente" in the City of Queretaro, State of Queretaro, 
Republic of Mjexico, at four o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, 

December the first, 1916. 

/ 
f 

"^ne of the greatest satisfactions which I have had since 
^^,,jrfarting the struggle which I, as Constitutional governor of the 
State of Coahuila began against the usurpation of the govern- 
ment of the Republic, is that of being able at the present moment 
to place in your hands, in fulfillment of one of the promises which 
I made to the Mexican people in the City of Veracruz, in the name 
of the revolution; the project of a reformed Constitution; a pro- 
ject which comprises all the political reforms which several years' 
experience and a careful and constant observation have sug- y 
gested as indispensable for cementing, on a solid basis, the in-/ 
stitutions and laws under which the Nation shall work out itf 
salvation, marching towards progress along Liberty and Law^^ 
The political Constitution of 1857, left to us by our forefathersX 
as a precious inheritance under which the Mexican Nationality / 
has crystalized, a constitution which penetrated into the national \ 
soul with the War of Reform, during which great things were { 
accomplished, and which constituted the flag carried by thf 
people to the battlefield during the war against intervention, ""x 
presents without doubt the consecration of the highest pniv 
ciples, fully acknowledged in the dazzling light of the greatest^'" 
revolution that has ever taken place in the world at the end of 
the eighteenth century ; principles which have been sanctioned 
by the constant and patient practice which have made of them 
two of the greatest countries on [earth: England and the United 
States. • ] 



Unfortunately the legislators of 1857' were satisfied / 
proclamation of general princ/ ■ ■ ■ - ^\A not e*' 



the 

LtO 



.■ f,.iu. nn tVip divine orig-in of a monarch, lord of lives 
zation rests fully on the divme ""g ^ ^ -^ ^^^ tho 

and property it P-'^-^^ly unckn t^ul tl^^^^t^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ 

Mroclaimiug- bigh prnicipleb, do '^''\l^^''}^!^^'\ ^^ satisfying its 

uin. 

P,.,- .1,, ^ the" first declaration in the political constitu- 

,. ^° r is ;; o-uarantee human freedom m the most 

-'"'\ ''^ 'Vi.il n^'^ '^^.^1- -oo.sible in order to prevent the govern- 
:::^':"'. 'l:^^^ ■■ ;^:roft:d;r or peace-4he motives always 
';'^%7V ' ., order to justify their outrages-from at- 

^^-"-^^^ ■ : ;. limit the rights of the governed on^s, 

^^"^Pf ^ r; / hS^ rights, Ind assuming the exclusive 

'^^^:^li'\-^r- 'iv^dualinitiative and social activities 

^":^^ ;..t- to . -an and society. The ^ Constitution of 

lov ' '^ % I Ua^e already said, that the rights of man are 
:;:' . -.d object of all social institutions, but with few ex- 

,-";-ions^ It do^ £ guarantee these rights in due manner; nor 
^'y:'":-; Vne b.v the successive laws that were passed and 
"I'lh ^o ;o"n4in- ^e anv serious punishment for the_violation 
''^'^'■' -^- • - ,-::r-...^" merely give nugatory penalties which 
^ "r^f^^rtWt Therefore, and without fear of 
~ ^tioIls one can say that despite the Con- 
^rllvidual liberty was completely at the 
.-..,,,..- of riier- The number of outrages against_ freedom and 
■:''^{cr^J:t^:.\il^i^Uons during the period of time_ m which 
t^^n^ii -^Pf 1«57 has beeS in force, is surprising; there 
.he v.onstitut 1 £^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ excesses com- 

^"Tf ^fKv t^''^r'w";^\h?^^hout the republic and notwith- 
mitted \n t.c '^^--■^;-:^;:^^^ ~^f^^ ,^il ^nd the constant dis- 

^'''; 'licial authorities caused the Federation 

be latter never mad. any efforts to repress such abuses, much 



01 


ti' 


s'C 

fal 
sti 


^ - 



t . . - 

to ininish for them 



. -< >,n -rnnot conceive the number of appeals from 

-- t<rmi1itary service or from arbitrary acts of the 
.,,„ .....rities especially the "jefes Piliticos'' mayors, who, 
seeraed to be the tormentors of the individual and of society 
rati er than the ones charged with maintaimng order ; and as- 
^urecUy these, appeals wou-ld cause not surprise, but amazement 
suicui., L p.f ,_„g.i|,..,.3 ^y,ri insensible to the misery of 

n^-^^chid ':larath:m of right which is enough to im- 

Pe respect in a people of high culture wherein Uie Pi-oclamation 

ft fundamental principle of political and social order is suffi- 
cient becomes a barrier behind which the authority invested wi h 

u^i^m^de faculties, assuming unlimited power and -^here the 
people has nothing to do but keep silent and endure. The cor- 



rection of these evils is the aim of the different reforms which 
the Government in my charge proposes in regard to the first 
section of the first title of the Constitution of 1857, and I enter- 
tain the hope that by these reforms and the severe penalties im- 
posed by the penal code for the outrages to individual guaran- 
tees, it will be possible to make the public authorities what they 
should be, the instruments of social safety, instead of being what 
they have been : the oppressors of the people which unhappily 
have been under their sway. It would require a long time to 
enumerate all the reforms proposed in this project ; but allow me 
to call your attention to a few of them, on account of their 
special importance. Article 14 of the Constitution of 1857, which 
in the mind of the Constituents, as deduced from its text and 
the discussions which took place relative thereto, referred only 
to trials of the penal order, after many delays and contradictory 
decisions of the Supreme Court, was definitely extended to civil 
cases and the result of this was, as I have already stated, that 
the judicial federal aitthorities became the revisors of all acts 
of the judicial authorities in the States, and thus the Federal 
power on account of the influence it exerted, controlled the 
action of the common courts, either with political views or in 
order to advance some favorite. Due to the appeal recourse, the 
federal judicial authorities were overburdened with work, and 
the course of common court cases was greatly impeded. Despite 
all these facts, we must acknowledge that the tendency to give 
an undue extension to article 14 of the Constitution was caused 
by the urgent necessity to reduce the judicial authority of 
the States to their just boundaries, for it was soon felt that the 
judges, converted into the unconditional tools of the governors 
who brazenly interfered in matters absolutely outside of their 
scope, made it necessary to have recourse to the federal judicial 
authority in order to repress all those abuses. So it appears 
from the modification made under date of December 12, 1908, to 
article 102 of the Constitution of 1857, a reform which, other- 
wise, is very far from attaining its object, and merely com- 
plicated still more the mechanism of the appeal, already slow 
and difficult; furthermore, the Supreme Court made so many 
breaches of this reform, that within a short time it was abso- 
lutely null and useless. 

The Mexican people is so used to appeal in the civil proceed- 
ings in order to free themselves from the arbitrary acts of judges, 
that the government in my charge has considered it imprudent 
and unjust to deprive them of this recourse, and thiijlcs it will be 
sufficient to limit it to the cases where it is absolutely necessary, 
expediting it so that its course will be rapid and effective, as 
the Chamber will see by the proposed reforms. Article 20 of 
the Constitution of 1857, marks the guarantees which every de- 
fendant shall have in any criminal proceedings ; put into practice, 
those guarantees have been absolutely ineffective, since al- 
though not violating them openly, practices which were abso- 

8 



lutely inquisitorial have been carried on the side which generally 
leave the defendant subject to the arbitrary and despotic action 
of the judges and even of the agents or clerks in the offices of the 
former. 

You well know, gentlemen, and the whole Mexican people 
knows it as well, that the rigorous incommunication, or solitary 
confinement at times prolonged for several months, to punish pre- 
sumptive political prisoners, or to frighten and subdue the un- 
happy individuals who had fallen un(ier the action of the criminal ' 
courts and compell them to make forced confessions which prac- 
tically always were false, and which were merely the outcome of 
a desire to get out of dirt and conditions which were a real 
menace to health and even to life. 

The criminal procedure in Mexico has, up to date, and with 
slight variations, been exactly the same which was implanted by 
the Spanish domination, without any change in the harshness of 
the treatment of prisoners, for the Mexican legislation has re- 
mained entirely conservative in this matter, without any one 
taking any pains to improve it in this point. 

Secret proceedings and acts took place, with which the ac- 
cused was not acquainted, as if his own freedom and life were 
not at stake ; restrictions to the rights of the defense, preventing 
the accused and his defenders from being present at the hearing 
of proofs against the former, as if these were of no moment 
to the prisoner, and finally, the fate of the prisoner was left 
entirely in the hands of the clerks who, either by antagonism or 
interest, altered their own declarations, those of the witnesses 
against him, and even those of the witnesses who had declared 
for him. The law grants the accused freedom under bail during 
the course of the proceedings, in certain cases ; but this faculty 
was subject to the arbitrary will of the judges, it being sufficient 
in order to annul this concession, a mere declaration that they 
feared the prisoner would evade the action of justice by fleeing 
and losing the amount of the bail. Lastly, there is no law which 
establishes, in a precise and clear way, the maximum duration 
of penal proceedings, and this lack has permitted the judges to 
hold the defendants for a longer period than that marked by the 
law for the misdemeanor or crime, and thus arrests were often 
absolutely unjustified and arbitrary. 

The reforms suggested for Article 20 will remedy all these 
evils. • 

Article 21 of the Constitution of 1857 granted to the adminis- 
trative authority the power of imposing, as a correction, up to 
$500 fine or up to one month's imprisonment in the cases and 
manner expressly determined by the law, reserving for the 
judicial authority the exclusive application of all penalties 
properly called so. This precept opened a wide breach for 



abuses, for the administrative authority considered, itself always 

authorized to impose one month of imprisonment for any imagin- 
ary fault, a month which was always prolonged, and never, 
ended on time. The proposed reform in this particular, while 
confirming" the judges ' in their exclusive power of imposing 
penalties, grants to the administrative authorit}'- the right to 
punish only infractions to the police bylaws, which ordinarily 
mean fines and not imprisonment, which is imposed only when 
the infractor cannot pay the fine. The reform does not -stop 
there, but offers a new suggestion which undoubtedly will com- 
pletely revolutionize the system of procedure which for so long a 
time despite all its imperfections and deficiencies has ruled the 
country. .. The laws now in force, both in the federal and ^in the 
common order, have adopted the institution of the "Ministerio 
Publico" but this adoption has been nominal, for the function 
assigned, to the representatives of the former . has a merely 
decorative character, for the prompt and straight administration 
of justice. Mexican judges , during the period that has elapsed 
from the consummation of independence to date, have been 
identical to the judges of the colonial period. They are in charge 
of investigating delinquencies by seeking proofs, for which 
reason, and in order to secure them, they have felt authorized 
in committing- real assaults on the defendants,,to compel them to 
confess, acts which without doiibt denaturalize the functions of 
judges. The whole nation remembers vv^ith horror the outrages 
committed by judges who, craving fame; av\^aited with positive 
fruition the arrival in their hands of a case which would permit 
them to deploy a compile system of oppression against indi- 
viduals who were in many cases innocent, and in others, again ^^1 
the tranquility and honor of families, respecting no barriers, not 
even those imposed b}^ the law itself. The same organization, of 
the "Ministerio Publico" (Public prosecutor) at the same time 
that it will prevent such vicious proceedings, restoring to judges 
all the dignity and respectability of the magistracy, will enjoy 
its full importance, taking exclusive charge of the persecution of 
delinquency and the search for proofs which will no Icnger 1 
carried out in the censurable and outrageous manner in whi'- 
it v/as done,^ and will issue orders for the apprehension of 
delinquents. 

On the other hand, the "Ministerio Publico" liaving under his 
orders judicial repressive police, will take away from Municipal 
Mayors and common police, the- facilities v/hich the latter have 
had up t» date, for arresting an}'^^ individual they considered sus-^ 
picious, without any more reason than their own personal con- 
victions. By the establishment of public prosecutors such as is 
proposed, individual freedom is guaranteed, for according to 
article 16, no one may be detained except under orders of the 
judicial authorities, and the latter cannot issue such orders ex- 
cept in the terms and with the requisites prescribed by that 
article. 

10 



Article 27 of the Constitution of 1857 authorizes the authorities 
to take possession of the property of any individual, without his 
previous consent, when public utility so demands. This power, 
in the the judgment of the Government in my charge, is sufficient 
to acquire lands and distribute them in the form considered con- 
venient: among the people who want to undertake agricultural 
labors, thus founding the small property, which must be pro- 
moted as public necessity may demand it. The only proposed 
reform to this article is that the declaration of necessity he niade 
by the corresponding administrative authority, and the judicial 
authority will have only the power to intervene in order to ap- 
praise the exact valuation of the land to be expropriated. This 
article, besides keeping in force the law prohibiting civil and 
ecclesiastical corporations to acquire and administer real estate, 
but exempting from this all private and public beneficent insti- 
tutions in regard to the real estate strictly necessary, to carry out 
immediately and directly, the object of these institutions, and 
authorizing them to accept on said real estate capitals and in- 
terest, the latter not to exceed in any case the legal rate, and for 
a period not over ten years. 

The need of this reform is obvious, for no one is ignorant of 
the fact that the clergy, impossibilitated to acquire real estate, 
has defrauded the law by means of the organization of corpora- 
tions ; and as on the other side, these companies have under- 
taken the acquisition of large tracts of land in the Republic, it is 
necessary to correct this evil in an effective and rapid manner; 
otherwise the national territory would soon be, either really or m 
a fictitious manner, in the hands of foreigners. It is obviously 
necessary that every foreigner, when acquiring real estate in the 
country, should renounce his nationality expressly with refer- 
ence" to such property, submitting in regard to it, in a complete 
and absolute manner, to the Mexican laws ; a thing which could 
not be accomplished as to societies, which on the other hand con- 
stitute, as has been suggested, a real menace of monopolization of 
the territorial property of the republic. Finally, this article ex- 
pressly forbids that institutions of private beneficence be m 
charge of religious corporations or of ministres of cults, for 
otherwise the door of abuse would be open again. 

With these reforms to article 27, and the reform proposed for 
article 28 in order to combat monopolies efficaciously, and to as- 
sure free competition in all branches of human activities— a com- 
petition which is indispensable to secure the life and development 
of peoples, — and with the authorization which the proposed re- 
form of section 20 of article 72 confers on federal legislative 
power for the issuance of laws on labor, whereby all improve- 
ments of social progress shall be implanted for the benefit of the 
working classes ; with the limitation of the hours of work itself, 
so that the workingman will not exhaust himself, and may have 
time for rest and recreation, and for the cultivation of his mind, 

U 



so that he may be enabled to have intercourse with his neighbors, 
which engenders sympathies and breeds habits of co-operation 
towards the common weal ; the responsibility of contractors in 
case of accidents; the policies for old age or illness; the establish- 
ment of a minimum salary sufficient to cover the immediate 
needs of the individual and his family, to insure and improve 
his position ; the law of divorce which has been enthusiastically 
received by the different social classes as a means to establish 
the family on a basis of love and not on that of interest and con- 
venience ; with the laws which will soon be issued to establish 
the family on a more rational and just basis, which will elevate 
the consorts to the high mission which society and nature place 
in their charge, such as propagating the species and forming the 
family ; by means of all these reforms, I repeat, the government 
in my charge has logical hopes that all political institutions in the 
country will respond satisfactorily to all social needs, and this, to- 
gether with the guarantees which protect individual liberty, will 
become a real fact and not mere impossible promises ; and that 
the division among the three branches of public power will im- 
mediately become effective, and a solid foundation for true 
democracy in Mexico, that is to say, the government of the 
people of Mexico by the effective co-operation, spontaneous and 
conscient, of all the individuals who form the nation, who will 
look for their own welfare in the reign of law and justice, having 
the latter equal for all, defending the legitimate interests of all, 
safeguarding all noble aspirations. In the reform of article 30 of 
the Constitution of 1857, it has been considered necessary to de- 
fine, with all precision and clarity, who are Mexicans by birth, 
and who are so by naturalization, in order to put an end to the 
long dispute which some time ago started about the case whether 
a foreigner's son born in the country, who on becoming of age 
decides for Mexican citizenship, should or should not be con- 
sidered as a Mexican born citizen. On upholding the forms of 
articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of 1857, the old question 
was asked, whether the active vote should be granted to all 
citizens without exception, or only to those who are capable of 
voting in an effective way and conscious of what they are doing, 
or whose economic position gives them a decided interest in the 
management of public affairs. In order that the exercise of the 
right of suffrage be a positive and real manifestation of national 
sovereignty, it is necessary that it be general, for all, free and 
direct, because if any of these conditions is lacking, it becomes 
a class prerogative or a mere artifice to hide usurpations of 
power, or governors' impositions against the evident, manifest 
will of the people. Suffrage, therefore, being an essentially col- 
lective function as a manifestation of the exercise of sovereignty, 
must be granted to all members of the social body who under- 
stand its full value and importance. This would seem to author- 
ize the conclusion that the right to vote should be restricted to 
those individuals who have a full conception of the high import 

12 



of sach an act, and this would naturally exclude those who 
through ignorance, carelessness or indifference are incapable of 
duly fulfilling this act, as refers to the government of the people 
by the people. However, and although acknowledging that the 
above is a theoretical truth, there are in the case of Mexico, 
factors or historical antecedents which compel the acceptance 
of a solution different from the one which is the practical result 
of the principles-of political science. 

The revolution headed by the chiefs who agreed to the Plan 
de Ayutla, aimed to put an end to the military dictatorship and 
the oppression exerted by the wealthy classes ; and as this revo- 
lution was made by the oppressed, the lower classes, the ignor- 
ants, the Constitution of 1857 which was its result, could not, 
rationally, forego the granting to all without distinction, of the 
right to vote, since it would have been an inconsequence to deny 
the people the advantages of their triumph. The revolution at the 
head of which I have been placed, has also aimed at the destruc- 
tion of the military dictatorship, uprooting it and giving to the 
Nation all the conditions of life necessary for its full develop- 
ment; and as the ignorant masses are those which have suffered 
most, because the full weight of cruel despotism and insatiable 
exploitation has fallen on them, it would be not only an incon- 
sequence, but an unpardonable deceit, to deprive them of what 

they have conquered. 

# 

The Government in my charge considers it, therefore, bad 
procedure and inopportune at the present moment, after a great 
popular revolution, to restrict suffrage demanding the only re- 
quisite that can be exacted, that all citizens have sufficient 
elemental instruction to know the importance of the electoral 
function so that they can fulfill it in conditions fruitful for society. 

Despite this fact, in the proposed reform which I am submit- 
ting to this honorable body, with reference to the electoral right, 
the conveniency is consulted, of temporarily depriving any 
Mexican citizen of this right who does not know how to use his 
right as a Mexican correctly, any one who looks with indiffer- 
ence on whatever matters pertaining to the republic. His 
economic condition or his education would be no preventive for 
this barring, since they would only tend to demonstrate his lack 
of interest, which in itself would be sufficient for depriving him of 
the prerogative to vote. 

The Government in my charge believes that the constant de- 
sire shown by the lower classes of the Mexican people to secure 
a welfare of which they have been deprived to date, fully capa- 
citates them to appoint representatives when the time comes, 
and to select those individuals which inspire them with more 
confidence. 

On the other hand, the Government resultant from the Revo- 
lution,— and this fact is evident to all the republic— has had a de- 

13 



cided interest in spreading instruction throughout the country, 
and this gives rise to the well-founded belief that instruction 
will continue to spread intensely so that all Mexicans become a 
cultured people, capable of understanding the high destiny of 
the nation and give them and the government a solid, effective 
co-operation which will make anarchy on the one side, and 
dictatorship on the other, an impossible thing. 

The independent municipality is undoubtedly one of the great- 
est conquests of the revolution, since it is the basis of a free 
government, a conquest which not only will give political free- 
dom to the municipal life, but will also give it economic inde- 
pendence, since each municipality will have its own finances to 
attend to all its needs, and thus will be out of the reach of the 
greediness which, up to date, governors of states have usually 
shown ; and also a good electoral law which will keep the latter 
absolutely separate from the public vote, and which will severely 
punish any attempt to violate it. and help to set the electoral 
power on a firm basis giving it freedom to duly fulfill its mission. 

The organization of the electoral power, which will have the 
preferent attention of the next Constitutional congress, will coil- 
tribute in a great part, to prevent the Legislative power from 
being a mere tool of the Executive power, for the representatives, 
being elected by the people without interference from the central 
power, will €t)nstitute Chambers which really act for the welfare 
of the nation and cease to be centers of oppression and disturb- 
ances actuated only by the desire of personal gain. Because we 
must not forget, even for an instant, that the best institu- 
tions fail and are dead letters if not practiced, and only serve to 
cover the impositions of mandataries against the will of the 
people, with the mantle of legality. 

The division of the branches of public power follows, as I 
stated before, the fundamental idea of fixing precise boundaries 
to the action of the representatives of the country so as to pre- 
vent them from exerting their power to the detriment of the 
nation. It is therefore necessary, not only to mark definitely the 
scope of action of each department, but also to correlate them in 
such a manner that none supersedes the other and that no con- 
flict results between them, which might place obstacles in the 
path of public affairs, or even affect order and peace in the 
Republic. 

The Legislative power, which by its own nature has a tend- 
ency to interfere with the functions of the others, was endowed 
in the Constitution of 1857. with faculties which permitted it to 
impede or make the action of the Executive power difficult, or to 
subject the latter to the capricious will of a majority easily 
obtained during the periods of turbulence, when evil passions 
and bastard interests predominate. . .Several of the reforms here- 
in proposed aim to this end, and the principal one attempts to de- 

14 



\i 



privc the Hoii-e of Deputies of the power to indict the President 
of the rrnt-;.i)lic and the other functionaries of the federation, a 
po\v - '^ is no doubt the reason why former dictatorships 

alwa... ' ■ secure servile deputies who could be handled as 

automat- Legislative power undisputably has the right 

and the o,jij\,j. r:;i to inspect all acts of the government in order 
to fulfill its "fluty, taking all those steps which are conducive to 
rr,!-;rsi:K':e th- Lction of the government; but when such investi- 
'. 11 is n .; iPcrely informative in order to judge of the neces- 
sity or uselessness of a legislative measure, but afifects a merely 
judicial form, the reform which is referred to, grants both to the 
Kouse and the Executive the power to request that the Supreme 
Court appoint commissions from its members, or a magistrate of 
the Circuit courts, a District judge, or a commission formed by 
independent individuals to open the corresponding investigation 
simplv to clarify the act about which information is desired ; a 
til ill r :,t be done by congressmen themsel/es, who 

nrdi- e to be satisfied with the reports giyen them 

by interior authorities. 

This is the opportunity. Honorable Deputies, to refer to a 
qucstiiin which will no doubt conie to your attention, since it 
has been agitated for the past few years in order to decide for a 
-r^n-n c;,-ctpj-n o-f govemment which is recommended as infalH- 
one side, against dictatorship, and on the other, 
: .in; L o.ii.uchy, betv/een which extremes the Latin-American 
peoples have been oscillating since the time when they achieved 
iiV'Ci'er.deiice.' I refer to the parliamentary system. 

I :'>nsi ler it not only convenient, but indispensable, to state, 
e\ ci; tlioiv-:;!! succinctl3^ the motives that have moved me not to 
accept such a system among the reforms which I bring to your 
attention. Tocquevjlle observed in his study of the history of 
American nations of Spanish origin, that these peoples go to- 
v'.-n-d-- annrch^' yhea they grow tired of obeying-, and to dictator 
tired of destroying, and he considered this 

i-~.ui- , i ii ,., L\,^.,;i order and turbulence as a fatal law which 
has governed and y\dll still sway the aforementioned countries 
for a long time. The statesman referred to did not state what 
in his opinion-,- was the remedy for such an evil, a thing which 
it would have'been easy for him to determine if only he had 
observed the causes of the phenomenon and of the circumstances 
under which it is always reproduced. Latin-American countries 
while they v.'ere dependencies of Spain, were ruled by the iron 
hand : there Avas no law but the Viceroy's will, and the vassals 
had no rights. Whoever altered order, either propagating dis- 
solving theories or ideas Avhich merely mined the foundations of 

faith or authoriioo en- wl'o tried to fan revolt, had no other end 
but the scaffold. 

When the struggle for Independence finally broke the ties 
which held these countries to the Spanish metropolis, the people, 

15 



dazzled by the greatness of the French Revolution, adopted all 
the revindications of that revolt, without thinking that they 
lacked the men who could guide them in that arduous task, and 
that they were not prepared for it. Governments cannot be 
erected from night to morning, and to be free it is not enough to 
wish it, it is indispensable to know how. 

The peoples to which we refer have needed and still need, 
strong governments which are capable of holding within the 
limits of order, those undisciplined peoples always ready under 
the slightest pretext to step over boundaries committing all 
kinds of outrages ; but unhappily in this particular, confusion has 
occurred, and a despotic government has been considered as a 
strong government, a fatal error which has fostered the ambition 
of the upper classes, anxious to take possession of the handling of 
public affairs. 

It has been generally believed that order cannot be main- 
tained without overstepping the law, and this, and no other, is 
the cause of the fatal law to which Tocqueville refers, because 
dictatorship will never produce order, just as darkness never 
can produce light. Let us, therefore, dissipate the error, teach 
the people that it cannot enjoy its liberty if it does not know 
how to use it, that is to say, that liberty's condition is order, and 
without this, the former is unattainable. 

Let the Government of Latin-American nations be based on 
this truth, and the problem will be favorably solved. In Mexico, 
from the Independence to date, only a few of the legal govern- 
ments adhered to this principle, as> did the government of 
Juarez, and for that reason they were successful. The others, 
such as those of Guerrero and Madero, succumbed because they 
did not attend to that principle. They wanted to impose order 
?.t the same time teaching the law, and the result was failure. 

On the other hand, if the Government should respect Law and 
institutions, it also should be inexorable with the perturbers of 
public order and the enemies of society. Thus only can Nations 
liv^e and march towards progress. 

The- Constitution of 1857 had a good conception of the Execu- 
tive power, free in its own sphere of action in order to develop 
its politics without any limitation except the respect of the law ; 
but they did not complete the task, because they reduced the 
prestige of the Executive, making the election of the president, 
mediatory, and therefore, this election was not the fruit of the 
people's will, but the product of the fraudulent combinations of 
the Electoral Colleges. 

The direct election of the president, and the "no-reelection" 
are the triumphs secured by the Revolution of 1910, and no 
doubt gave more strength to the government of the country ; and 
the reforms which I now propose to have made, will no doubt 

16 



complete this work Th« d - , 

»:tHlr -- -«• nor^.?l- tj-,':- o, 

agamst the invasion by the Hons'.TP^i'l. ''y ">«= People both 
o?T^X;?e-^i,Tli;-5--^tll1^ 

.:3^&''o".-;s^rtS^ 'p^X^t-^^sr'7 ™ --Hin. 

ormed o^ftfo'w "^'^ ?^« '^ l/'^f^t""" °rial faculti"el 
the aim°s to h^" "'='"''"«. called "CaWnet" r " T""''^^'«" 
Hi»me.eVa°tr.a^P;-fP-ide^nrdWp^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

ical antecedents h^-r^"*' ^^ ^^^^ys influen^d h^ v' ^'' ^^P^^" ' 
On the other hand +v. 

I understand that f-v,^ i- 
suits in the few T .V AP^'^^'^^^entary reffime h. • 
adopted- but i^ Latm-American countrief^t ^^- ^.^^^" "o re- 

.^of ntn^"l,Tte7froSrr' .^'^ ^^^ P-r^that It ^^ '^^" 

ipsa! isssiiiH 

as havn,. any re^a, vX.' ""'* "^^"^ •''at .■t^•s n"ot Jonsfdered 



17 



In my judgment, the most sensible, wisest thing to do, one in 
accordance with our political antecedents, and which will keep 
us from making experiments with foreign systems suitable for 
cultured nations whose origin is, different from ours, and I 
shall not tire of repeating it, to constitute the Government of the 
Republic with respectful regard of that deep tendency towards 
liberty, equality and the assurance of respect .of its rights 
which is rooted in the Mexican people; because we must keep in 
sight that the nations, as they advance feel more and more the 
need to follow their own course in order to preserve and develop 
their lives, allowing to all social elements the full enjoyment of 
their rights and of the advantages to be derived from this enjoy- 
ment, the principal one being that of individual initiative. 

This progress is the basis on which the political progress 
must stand; because peoples persuade themselves very easily 
that the slightest constitutional arrangement is the one which 
better protects the development of "the social and individual 
life, based on -the complete possession of the freedom of the 
individual and of the liberties of the individual, ^under. the con- 
dition that the latter does not deprive third parties of their rights. 

You know already, messieurs the Deputies, the reform recently 
carried out by the government in my charge, of articles yS, 80. 81 
and 82 of the Federal Constitution; suppressing the Vice- 
presidency, and establishing a new system to substitute the 
President of the Republic either in his temporal or in his absolute 
disability; and although the expositive part of the relative decree 
explains the motives for said reforms, I consider it, however, 
opportune to call your attention to the subject. The Vice- 
presidency which in other countries has become a habit and has 
been very useful, has had in our country, through a chain of un- 
happy circumstances, such a fatal history, that instead of as- 
suring the presidential succession in. a pacific manner in unex 
pected cases, has done nothing but weaken the' Government of 
the Republic ; in fact, perhaps because whin that institution was 
in force, the appointment of the vice-president fell on imscrupu- 
lous ambitious men, perhaps the lack of democratic habits or the 
lack of honesty of those who do not try to find in politics the 
means of co-operating in a useful manner with the Government 
of their country, but only to secure reprobablc advantages in 
public business. Therefore, the Vice-president willingly, or un- 
willingly, usually became the center of opposition, wherein were 
concentrated all the hatreds, all the hostilities against the person 
who had charge of the supreme power of the Republic. The 
Vice-Presidency in Mexico has presented the following spectacle : 
a public functionary (the Vice-president) endeavoring to over- 
throw, — on account of inability or of having violated the law— 
the President of the Republic;^ aiming to replace tlTe latter, and 
having no opponent before him to prevent him from accomplish- 
ing the downfall of the President. 

18 



During- the last period of the government of General Diaz, the 
vice-presidency was merely an invention of the "cientifacos" in 
order to hold the central power in their hands, in the event of the 
disappearance of the former. 

The manner in which the absence of the President is to be 
filled, such as has been adopted in the system established by the 
reforms to which I am referring, fulfills its object satisfactorily, 
in my opinion. It is good politics to prevent the excitement 
usually attendant to electoral struggles ; the latter give impulse 
to large interests around the possible candidates. The system of 
nbstituting the president by the so-called Secretaries of State, 
c:illing- tbeni in the order established by the law which has insti- 
tnted them, merely served to leave absolutely in the hands of 
the President the designation of the individual who should 
succeed him. 

The system adopted by the Government in my charge will 
stumble against none of these obstacles, for the individual who 
according to it is to substitute for tlie President of the republic 
(luring temporal or absolute absence, shall be a man chosen 
really by popular vote, since the members of the Congress of 
the Union are the real representatives' of the people, and together 
with the power inA'ested in them by their electors, they shall also 
have the duty to elect tlie substitute to the President of the 
Republic, when occasion demands. 

Another reform, the importance of which I wish to bring to 
your attention, messieurs the Deputies, is that which aims to in- 
sure the full inde])endence of the Judicial power; a reform which, 
as that one Avhich has modified the duration of the period for 
the President of the Republic, reveals clearly the evident honesty 
and decided earnestness with which the Government of the Revo- 
lution is carrying out the program it proclaimed in Veracruz, on 
the 12th day of December, 1914; since one of the most ardent 
desires and most deeply felt needs of the Mexican people is to 
liavc ii^dependent tribunals to carry out effectively the in- 
dividual guarantees against the outrageous attempts and ex- 
cesses of the agents of public power and which will protect the 
quiet and pacific enjoyment of civil rights, until now lacking. 
I shall not weary.r your attention any longer, as it would be a 
long arid heavy task to speak to you of the other reforms con- 
tained in the project submitted to you, reforms which all aim to 
insure public liberties by means of the law, to guarantee the 
rights of all Mexicans by means of the good service of a justice 
dealt by capable and honest men, and to call the Mexican people 
to participate in all possible ways, in the public administration. 
The Government in my charge believes it has fulfilled its labor in 
so much as has been within its power, and if it has not fully 
succeeded, this is due to the fact that the enterprise is exceed- 
ingly difficult and requires constant attention, which I wa§ 

19 



unable to give, due to the fact that I had many other important 
matters to attend to. It is for you to complete the labor, with 
all the faith, with all the interest and enthusiasm which the 
mother country demands, expecting you to give her wise and 
just laws. 

Queretaro, December 1°, 1916. 

THE SPECIAL ENVOY. 



President of the Congress, Luis Manuel Rojas, replied : 

Honorable First Chief, in charge of the Executive Power of the 
nation: The Constituent Congress over which it is my honor to 
preside, has listened attentively to the report which you have 
read and in which you delineate in a very clear manner the 
political and social principles which have been your guide when 
carrying out the different reforms which are indispensable in 
order to adapt the Constitution of 1857 to the deeper needs and 
new aspirations of the Mexican people. 

You are right in considering that among the great, genuine 
satisfactions which you have had during your long struggle 
against an usurper's government and in favor of the liberties and 
welfare of the Mexicans, even of the lowest, the satisfaction you 
experience at the present moment is the greatest of all, now that 
yoa come before the national representatives to fulfill one of the 
solemn promises which you made in Veracruz in the name of the 
Revolution. The high thoughts expressed in your report are 
permeated with your personality, heated by your conviction and 
are the fruit of your experience ; they evidence not only to the 
Mexican people, but to the whole world, that you are also a 
great apostle of public freedom and the most decided and in- 
telligent paladin of Mexican democracy. You are perhaps 
the man who during several years has held in his hands the most 
absolute and energetic powers in this country. And when the 
exercise of this enormous sum of faculties has given occasion to 
our enemies both at home and abroad, for predicting that you 
would not easily resign those powers, you come and declare in 
the most frank and sincere manner and with perfect spontaneity, 
that the fundamental principle on which the new constitution 
must be based is the amplest respect for human liberty, and you 
proclaim also the right of the people to govern itself, precisely at 
the time when you are at the height of power and glory, where 
the temptations of ambition and the suggestions of selfishness 
exert ordinarily a fatal influence so difficult to resist. You are 
perfectly right in proclaiming in a particular manner, that the 
government myst be exclusively the work of the Nation, and 

20 



that only under these conditions is it possible for the govern- 
ment to be strong to impose order at home and to command 
respect abroad. 

It has not, therefore, been in vain that the Mexican people 
have placed their hopes in you and followed you enthusiastically 
and lovingly from the month of March of 1913 that it has seen in 
you their saviour through the different phases of the epic struggle 
you have had to keep up, and that to-morrow this same people 
will proclaim you as the .great statesman who succeeded in 
making effectual the free institutions in Mexico. It would be 
almost impossible for me to refer at the present moment to all 
the important points of your transcendental general project of 
reforms to the present Constitution, nor to the different prin- 
ciples to which you have recourse in order to base the reforms 
you advocate after painting with a master hand the precepts 
proclaimed in the fundamental law of 1857, despite its indisput- 
able theoretical value, have become in practice absolutely 
sterile because they have not served to establish a government 
really respectful of the rights of man, nor to organize all social 
elements, harmonizing and making them co-operate for the 
general weal; that is, preventing anarchy which is that social 
condition where each man is moved ^ his own personal selfish 
interest, without preoccupying himself in the least with the 
respect due to the rights of others. I therefore limit myself to 
acknowledge receipt of the project of reforms to the Constitu- 
tion of 1857 and I can assure you that each and every one of the 
citizens who form this Constituent Congress is animated by 
the highest desire to fulfill the mission with which the people has 
entrusted them, and that as you expect we will second with all 
zeal and patriotism, your labor, feeling satisfied to be with you 
in the great work of the national reconstruction. 

LUIS MANUEL ROJAS. 



21 



